Costs due to utility boiler fouling in China

The utility boilers in China usually burn inferior coal with high ash content, so the fouling problems are more serious than that in developed countries. However, there is little information on the effects of utility boiler fouling on operating costs in China. This paper proposes a method for evaluating the costs due to utility boiler fouling in China. The fouling costs include excess heat transfer surface area, extra fuel, and maintenance costs. The excess heat transfer surface area of the 100 MW and 200 MW boilers units in Changshan Power Plant is calculated, and the results show that the excess heat transfer surface area is about 29%. This increases the investment 86,400 Yuan per megawatt unit. Based on the parameters measured in situ, a case study of a 350 MW unit in Huaneng Dalian Power Plant demonstrates that the costs due to utility boiler fouling are 10.008 billion Yuan RMB without considering the costs due to product loss, which is about 0.11% GDP of China in 2000. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 34(2): 53–63, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.20051